Easy Slow Cooker Honey Maple Glazed Turkey Breast

Need an easy Sunday dinner whose leftovers happen to be the perfect sandwich meat for weekday lunches after? While pot roast tends to get all the glory, the humble turkey breast is for far more than a smaller crowd at Thanksgiving dinner. This Honey Maple Turkey Breast takes just minutes to get into the slow cooker, where it takes on the sweetness of maple syrup and honey to balance its natural savory flavor.

Why You'll Love This Honey Maple Turkey Breast

• Sweet & Savory: Sweet maple syrup and honey compliment the turkey, and a bit of balsamic vinegar and dijon mustard help to round out the savory side of things.
• Easy: We're only preparing the turkey for about 5 minutes before turning on the slow cooker and letting it do the heavy lifting. Mix, slather, and move on with your day!
• Versatile: This goes from a hot dinner to cold lunch meat for the week without any extra work! Leftovers are great in wraps, sandwiches, or to add protein to your favorite salad.

Let's Get Started! Here's What You'll Need:

Ingredients

Turkey Breast- A defrosted, bone-in turkey breast is what I'm using here. You can use a boneless turkey breast if you prefer, it'll cook a bit faster.

Maple Syrup- This is best with pure maple syrup, which gives us more maple flavor than the kind I grew up eating on pancakes.

Honey- Thicker and stickier than maple syrup, golden honey helps our syrup mixture cling to the turkey roast a bit better. Plus, it's in the name.

Dijon Mustard- You could use yellow or brown instead, but mustard helps balance the sweetness.

Balsamic Vinegar- Like the mustard, this is here to balance the honey and syrup, plus it tenderizes the meat a bit. That's why some brine recipes use vinegar.

Sea Salt & Black Pepper- Gotta have the basics! You can add some garlic powder too if you'd like, I skipped it to keep the ingredients to a minimum here but it's good either way.

Equipment

The star of our show here is your slow cooker. You'll likely need an oval crockpot that is on the larger size, 6 or 7 qt, to fit a bone-in turkey breast. If your lid won't sit nicely with the turkey inside, you can use aluminum foil to cover it instead. You'll also need a bowl and either a fork or whisk to mix the maple honey glaze together. Tongs are also helpful for positioning the turkey and flipping it, and of course you'll need a knife and cutting board for serving. Since slow cooker temperatures can vary a bit, you'll also want a meat thermometer to ensure the turkey is fully cooked.

How To Make This Slow Cooker Turkey Breast

Step 1: Unwrap Turkey

Unwrap your defrosted turkey breast over your sink so any raw juices drain off, then transfer the whole turkey breast into your slow cooker. Look for a gravy packet and discard that, as we don't need it today. There aren't typically giblets included with just a turkey breast but if you see any toss those too. If there is any string netting you can cut and pitch that- like giblets that's less common to see on a turkey breast.

Step 2: Make Maple Honey Glaze

In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, mix the wet rub ingredients: maple syrup, honey, dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Step 3: Coat & Cook

Pour the glaze over the turkey breast, making sure to coat it all over and as evenly as you can. Place the lid on the slow cooker- or cover the cooker with aluminum foil if the lid won't sit flush on the top of the crock pot. Turn the slow cooker on LOW for 6 hours, or HIGH for 3 hours. You want a meat thermometer to read at least 170 degrees F in the center of the roast.

During the cooking process a good bit of its own juices and the glaze flow to the bottom of the cooker, so if you want a more even coloring on the turkey you can flip it about two thirds into cooking. That's about the 2 hour mark if you're cooking on the high setting and about the 4 hour point on low heat.

Step 4: Slice & Serve

Once your turkey is cooked through, slice and serve. I like to dip or top each slice with some of the juices from the bottom of the slow cooker- think of them as the equivalent of pan drippings. You could even thicken that on the stovetop in a small saucepan if you want a thicker pan sauce. Be sure to store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within 3-4 days.

Leftover Ideas

One of the best things about a thanksgiving turkey is the great leftovers that follow in the days after the big holiday meal. They're great reheated as-is, make salads more filling, on top of rice bowls, or in a sandwich. They're great in most dishes that use leftover rotisserie chicken like this honey mustard wrap.

FAQs

Enjoy!

I hope you love this not-quite roasted turkey breast, and that it frees up your oven at the holidays and makes for an easy family dinner any time of the year for you. If so be sure to come back and leave a review!

📖 Recipe